


Parenthood

by Megchad22



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 23:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20199871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megchad22/pseuds/Megchad22
Summary: They were not supposed to love him and when he turned out to be the wrong child they should have been able to turn away. They couldn't.





	Parenthood

Two weeks after Warlock Dowling’s 11th birthday he had a dream that would, eventually, change his life for the better. Nothing had been right in those two weeks, not since Nanny Ashteroth and Brother Francis had abruptly left. Until that moment he had never doubted that he had their love at least, even if he was not always sure his parents felt the same.

In his dream he was standing in place he had never been. The room was dusty and cramped, filled to the brim with books of all kinds. Nanny and brother Francis were there and he could tell it was them, even though they looked so very different. Nanny was male shaped, with short hair and clothing that looked nothing like her usual dress. Brother Francis entire face shape and teeth had changed and he was dressed far more primly than Warlock had ever seen. 

There was no confusion in either of their faces when they looked at him. They didn’t ask how he got here. Instead Nanny just knelt down, “My little Hellspawn?”

Warlock crashed into Nanny and felt her arms wrap around him. A moment later Brother Francis pressed in close as well. He could feel their love for him and each other surround him. He voiced the question that had plagued him, but could not get his voice above a whisper. “Why did you leave me?”

Nanny pulled just far enough away to look at him and he could still feel Brother Francis pressed in close. Then she told, everything. From thinking Warlock was the Anti-Christ, the decision to influence him, the real Anti-Christ, Tricking Heaven and Hell. All of it.

Warlock could feel the hurt building with their words but couldn’t pull himself away from their arms. “So, you left because I wasn’t important?”

Brother Francis, no Aziraphale, tightened his arms around him and Nanny, Crowley. “My darling boy, no. We left because we loved you, because you were important. If the world ended you would have been destroyed too.”

“Well, now that the world isn’t ending can you come back?”

Nanny Crowley shook his head, “We can’t. It would put you and your parents in danger. If either side realized how much we loved you they would take you and hurt you because they think they can’t hurt us.” 

Now Warlock may have been a little boy and more than a little spoiled, but he had been effectively raised by an Angel and demon to prevent the end of the world. More to the point he had been effectively raised by a bibliophile gardener and a nanny that fully subscribed to knowledge is power. This left him better able to understand what the two being that loved him were telling him and not push.

All too soon he felt a strange pulling right between his eyes. Nanny Crowley smiled a bit sadly, “You’re starting to wake up, my little Hellspawn. We will try to visit you like this as often as we can.”

Aziraphale pulled him into one last hug, “And we do have one last thing for you, my dear”

The angel and demon stood and spread their wings. Each plucked a single feather and brought it to the child. A shining white feather was laid upon his right arm, falling just short of covering it entirely. It melted in, leaving lines of gleaming gold embedded in his arm. A black feather followed the same procedure on his left arm.

Nanny Crowley stood to his full height, “No one else will see the markings but if you ever need help we will be there to protect you.”

From the markings Warlock felt the love the angel and demon held for him. He let himself drift into wakefulness feeling…protected.

_In a bookshop in Soho an Angel and Demon huddled together. If one were to look at their aura they would see precisely 3 parts grief, 1-part hope._

_Aziarphale the first to break the silence, wringing his hands. “Oh Crowley…Warlock…It’s only been two weeks and he…he…”_

_Crowley sighed heavily, “I know, angel. I know.”_

_The spell they used to commandeer Warlock’s dream was an old one but created entirely by humans who had learned to tap into the energy of the planet. Thus, it was undetectable by either side. Originally this was supposed to be a one-time deal. A way to say goodbye to the child they had both grown to love. Then they had saw him, his soul._

_One of the lesser know talents of all Ethereal and Occult beings was the ability to see the soul in its entirety rather than the small piece that is crammed into human body. When they had left Warlock to stop the end of times his soul had been robust, his sense of self was as iron clad as an 11-year-olds could be. In only two weeks with parents his sense of self had nearly disappeared and his soul was hemorrhaging. Bleeding out in a way that had only partially been healed by the revelation that Aziraphale and Crowley did in fact love him._

_Aziraphale started to pace. “We can’t…He can’t stay there. They are going to destroy him.”_

_Crowley sighed again, “We can’t take him, you know that, angel. Not until he’s ready. Not until he asks. That destroy him just as surely as leaving him. Our Feathers will help him, will keep him from taking more damage and we will visit him as often as we can and remind him he is loved.”_

_“I just feel like we should be able to do more than a once a month dream visit until he’s ready to come home.”_

_“Or course we’ll be doing more than that, angel. We need to get someplace ready for all of us, someplace safe. Where he can grow up well.”_

_Aziraphale grew silent, thinking. Then he clapped twice. “Tadfield.”_

_“Angel?”_

_“Neither side is going to go anywhere near Tadfield. We can set up a home there.”_

_Crowley had brightened and was nodding, “We will have to ask Adam, it is his town. Adam and Them would be good for Warlock. Neither of us are great role models for interacting with one’s peers.”_

The first time Warlocks mother laid her hands on him was three weeks after he had dreamed of an angel and demon who loved him. He knew that from the gold inlaid on his right wrist and the obsidian inlaid on his left. His mother had just announced that he would starting boarding school in the fall. Warlock had not reacted well, he didn’t want to leave his home to go learn with strangers.

His mother’s hands had shot out quicker than a snake to grab him hard by the shoulders. She shook him three times, jerking him around hard enough to rattle his skull. Then she screamed in his face, “Why can’t you stop being a brat for once.”

He could already feel the burn of bruises under where her fingers pressed. For a moment he though ‘Nanny would never have…’ but before he even let thought full form he pushed it back and down. This was his mother. When the shaking stopped he opened his eyes to catch a glimpse of his mother’s horrified face before the au pair his parents had hired for the summer was guiding him away.

Where would Warlock go anyway if he asked to leave. Nanny and Aziraphale told him it wasn’t safe to go with them. That was why, when his mother came to apologize, he forgave her just like Brother Francis taught him. The pale pallor of his mother’s face faded a bit into its normal color. 

The bruises throbbed but it was better than the alternative. It was not that bad. 

_The moment that Warlock faded from the dream Crowley’s wings burst from his back, occult energy sparking off of them. His eyes turned black and his corporeal form was inches moments away from exploding. “SSSSSSShe bruised him.”_

_Aziraphale was only slightly more put together. His own wings fluttered around, knocking books off the shelves. For once the angel was not concerned with the written word. When he spoke, there was a heavy tone to his voice. “She did. She hurt him and probably will again.”_

_Crowley whirled, Black eyes flashing with the rage of impotence. “How can you be sssssso calm. Ssssshe bruised him.”_

_“My darling, you know better. I am far from calm. Give something we can do, anything that wouldn’t make things worse and she will be a pile of ash.”_

_With occult energy still sparking off him Crowley whirled again, “We can…We can…Arrrrrgh”_

_Aziraphale ignored the scream. He could very well understand the urge. Instead he chose to drive the point home, if only to prevent Crowley of all people from doing something disastrously impulsive. And wasn’t that a turn up, Aziraphale being the voice of reason between the two of them. “We can’t take him until he asks. And if angelic or demonic energy shows up at the Dowling hold they will find out and they will hurt Warlock to get to us.”_

_Crowley finally stopped sparking and his wings slumped, “Itsssss jusssst, Sssshe hurt him. And he isssss going to let her. How can we protect him if he letsssss her hurt him?”_

_“We be there for him. When he asks we will have a home for him and when that time comes we will be able to exact justice on her for what she is doing.”_

_Crowley huffed as his wings folded back into the ether, “Freewill, huh?”_

_Aziraphale nodded, “Freewill.”_

Warlock learned quickly what would make his mother upset with him. Upset enough to shake him and once, slap him. Her learned quickly that anything that shattered the picture-perfect family image was to be avoided at all cost. Anything that could tarnish their reputation.

With effort he could push aside all of Nanny’s teachings for almost a whole day. In his mother’s world he was strong, not powerful, and not in charge. And now he was heading off to boarding school where he would have to be extra careful of his image, his mother’s image. The only time he felt like himself was the monthly dream he shared with an angel and a demon. Their love for him pulsed from the markings on his arms. 

The one desire he never allows himself to contemplate: He would much rather be with them.

_Aziraphale and Crowley were taking their turn of hosting those who had been at the false end of the world, their side at least. They had finished their house in Tadfield and it was only the fact that they did not want to live there without Warlock that kept them from fully moving in._

_“He just does not seem to be making many friends in school” Aziraphale commented to Madam Tracy_

_Madam Tracy clucked her tongue, “From what you told me about what is going on with him, I’m not surprised. The poor dear.”_

_Aziraphale blinked, “Really?”_

_Madam Tracy nodded, “Oh yes, children can be cruel and unfortunately perceptive. I have no doubt they can tell there is something different about your boy and are reacting to that.”_

_Crowley interjected, “The Them aren’t like that.”_

_Anathema rolled her eyes, “Are your really trying to judge children based on the one raised with the Anti-Christ?”_

_Neither had and answer for that but thankfully Adam had a question, “Why does Warlock have to choose before you can rescue him?”_

_Crowley made a face, “It all goes back to freewill. Mystically Warlock is old enough to have free will which means his choices are binding, internal or otherwise. ‘s the same reason why demons can only tempt and wile, not just trick people into signing away their souls. If we tried to pull him from that life before he chooses he brain would turn to pudding.”_

_Newt blinked, “Pudding?”_

_Aziraphale chuckled, “Metaphorically speaking, my dear boy. But I suppose the effect would be the same.”_

The final time Warlock left the Dowling household came one week after his fourteenth birthday. In a rare turn of events his father was home. The ambassador had insisted on celebrating, despite being a week late.

Warlock did not remember what he had said, likely something sarcastic that would have had his Nanny grinning at the cheek. What was etched in his memory was the feeling of a fist impacting his cheek. His father’s wedding ring cut into his flesh. While his mother had often taken her frustrations out on him, this was the first time his father had. Unlike his mother his father did not look horrified at his actions. He just looked angry.

That was enough.

He was not even conscious of asking for help before the marks on his arms warm. A blink and suddenly there is an angel and a demon were between him and his parents. Aziraphale’s blinding wings flared to block the Dowlings from his sight. Then Nanny Crowley wrapped his arms around Warlock. The boy felt himself melt into the contact as the demon very softly healed the cut on his cheek.

“I don’t want to be here anymore.” Warlock whispered into the demon’s neck. He could not voice his true wish and be rejected.

“Of course, my little Hellspawn” Crowley whispered back. Then he raised his voice, “Zira.”

The angel didn’t as much as twitch from his protective stance. “Yes, darling”

“I’m taking our son home.”

“Fantastic, I’ll be along after I have a chance to…speak to his former guardians.”

_Their son was finally coming home. Aziraphale felt so much joy at that fact that he could burst. As soon as Crowley had vanished with Warlock Aziraphale could turn his attention back to the Dowlings. _

_“You’ve hurt him so much. In so many ways. Both of you.” He murmured “We neve could settle on what to do but I think my dear will approve of this. Warlock is no long yours and never will be again…but everyone will remember you had a son and now he is gone. They will look at the two of you with suspicion. There will never be enough to prove or disprove that murdered your own child but the suspicion will follow both of you for the rest of your lives and into the next.”_

_With a snap of his fingers Aziraphale left the weeping couple alone in their dining room. They would be unable to speak of what had happened to anyone. Beyond that the angel did not give them a second thought._

_He had a family to return to. _


End file.
